Mahagathbandhan's victory in Bihar: Impact on national politics

Ever since the BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls, there's only fight that matters - Modi vs the rest.

The resounding victory of Nitish Kumar and Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar holds much more significance for the BJP than just a loss in an assembly election.

The massive scale of loss and loss of face for Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be big areas of worry for a party that secured a clear mandate less than two years ago.

LIVE - Bihar results: Mahagathbandhan stuns BJP with landslide victory

However, the biggest story from Bihar – something that is bound to have a national impact – is the forming of the Mahagathbandhan.

In one stroke, all the significant non-BJP parties became 'one' and brought together their vote banks for a common cause- defeat of the BJP.

The seeds of the new experiment were sown when the Modi-led BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls. Suddenly it became Modi vs the rest.

In Bihar, the JD(U) and RJD were decimated. Lalu Prasad Yadav already had his back to the wall after his conviction in fodder case and Nitish Kumar was facing flak from within the party for ending ties with the BJP.

Both of them had no other option but to join hands to take on the might of Modi. Undoubtedly, the decision would not have been an easy one given the long standing enmity between the two but the fact was that they had no other option. The Congress joined the RJD-JD(U) and added more heft to it.

But the story won't end with Bihar; Lalu's lantern has shown Congress and others the way forward. The 'arrow' can hit the mark if there is focus and joining of forces.

The Congress would now be keen to replicate the experiment nationally. Alternatively, the Third Front may get a renewal once again and it would post a much bigger challenge to the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP had won just over 30% of votes in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, a 'Mahagathbandhan' at the Centre might turn out to be a bomb that no amount of electoral engineering by Amit Shah can prevent from exploding the party's prospects.

The only option left for the BJP – Narendra Modi delivers as no other Prime Minister has ever performed in the past.